“Alfa Romeo is at the core of top-level negotiations between Audi and Fiat and might be near to a sale, reliable sources here and in Ingolstadt, Germany, say. Sources close to both Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and Audi CEO Rupert Stadler confirm the two are in talks over a major deal.

The top subject reportedly involves the sale of Alfa, but this time not only the brand but Fiat’s Pomigliano assembly plant also is on the table. If the discussions bear fruit, the facility would return to building Alfas under Audi. Pomigliano was built in the late 1960s specifically for Alfa production, but currently makes the Fiat Panda.”

After years of punishing, brutal and inhumane torture against the legacy of Lancia; easily one of the finest marques of automobiles ever to exist. Sergio Marchionne has finally unleashed the final blow and has announced that he is killing off the Lancia marque. Finally, the marque will not be insulted by minivans and over-the-top rebadged 300C sedans. I am quite frankly relieved after seeing the marque decay over the past decade especially. There was hope with the 2003 Fulvia Concept, but after that project was killed off—-it all went to regurgitated scum.

To celebrate crossing the 1 million visit mark this week, this is a monster post of some of my favourite photos and automobiles posted on IEDEI from the past couple of years. I originally started this blog to catalogue my favourite automobiles and photographs, and it is still what I do—-however along the way I have met lots of great people, shared lots of interesting stories, and have learned even more than I already knew about the world of motoring.

srcs: too many to list! each source is listed in the original IEDEI post where these pics are taken from.

Let me just say that i’ve really gotten into watches in the last 6 months; and much of this blame goes to Mr. Bradley Price, a great friend and a full-on fellow automobile enthusiast who launched his line of Autodromo watches last autumn to my standing ovation. As I type this post, I am wearing my black Autodromo Veloce with pride.

I can’t say enough good things about my Veloce. It feels great on the wrist, looks magnificent in any setting, and is built with quality I quite frankly never see in a watch of this price range. Sapphire coated glass, beautiful perforated black leather strap, total attention to detail, and hell it even came with an aluminium chassis card engraved with my watch number! How many watch companies include a chassis number with a watch!?

Autodromo is now introducing two new Chronographs based on the successful Vallelunga line. There is industrial prowess in these designs, and when he says the goal is to incorporate vintage and minimalist design ethos, he isn’t kidding. I think if there were two words which described these watches perfectly it would be vintage and minimalist.

As motoring enthusiasts, we often search for objects which are inspired by motoring, however in an artful, graceful, and gentlemanly way. Autodromo watches are functionally and artistically inspired by motoring; and those of us who understand the art of gauges and dashboards can appreciate this on first glance.

Oh and just look at the press release photos. No further words are needed. $550 for the Chronograph, and for precision control of your time while motoring.

I can’t think of another car where the LOGO of the model would match the shape of the car! Marcello Gandini’s 1968 cutting edge, wedge shaped Bertone Carabo had exactly that though!

Bertone’s comment on the car:

“At the end of the 1960′s Bertone focussed his creative energies on prototypes. The Turin designer’s creativity and daring reached its peak in 1968 with the Carabo, which was presented at the Paris Motor Show in October.

Built on the Alfa Romeo 33 chassis with a centrally-mounted engine, it became a style classic, known for its creativity and original features, some of which contribute to its legendary standing.

Design features like its tight lines, tapering front blending in seamlessly with the windscreen, and the air inlets and outlets.

And the original door mechanism, with doors opening upwards and forwards (a concept which reappears on the production Countach), and even the novel colour: iridescent green like a beetle (hence the name Carabo, in Italian, a type of beetle).”

Distribution:

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yes i love the Alfa Romeo Junior Z—–i know lots of people don’t like it, and i’ve had conversations with Alfisti who discredit its weird Zagato roots and shape—-however I find it to be quite unique, and in person it is very very tiny and compact! All types of cool! I did learn something new today though; that the Junior Z was made in 2 forms, a short tail 1300 and a ‘longer’ tail 1600. Also on the Alfa Workshop, there is a photo of a ‘mid-engined’ variant….

The Junior Z is quickly catching up to the Montreal when it comes to my favourite post WW2 Alfa Romeos.

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IEDEI is back after a week away in Italy. The purpose of this trip was not car-related, but as a vacation for my wife and I to get away from the busy NYC days and to check out Italy for the first time. Firstly, we loved Italy for its superb food, beautiful historical city and landscapes, lovely people, and it’s good vibes. I had originally planned to drive for a few days within Italy, however due to our short itinerary, we decided that using the superb Eurostar train system there seemed optimal and most efficient. The trains are of course very comfortable, and very easy to use—and I highly recommend them to anyone traveling through Italy or the rest of western Europe.

Here are a list of some basic observations I made about motoring and cars in Italy from a passenger point of view.

1. People have very eccentric parking habits in Rome—-pretty much makes NYC parking look like a regulated, organized affair.

2. The freeways are very tame, boring affairs—-similar to freeways anywhere else, including the US.

3. I would say 95% of the cars seen parked and driving consist of small, slow, functional economy hatchbacks.

4. In 7 days in Italy, through 4 cities (Roma, Firenze, Napoli, and Capri)—- i did not see a SINGLE Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, pre-1990 Alfa Romeo, pre-1990 Lancia, or pre-1990 Fiat. I was shocked at the lack of interesting Italian cars present there. I can honestly say that the most interesting cars I saw in Italy were a couple Alfa Romeo Breras, a bunch of fanastic Audis not readily seen in US markets(A1, S3, A3 Roadster, B8 S4 Avant, A4 Allroad), many Alfa Romeo 159s (which are much more beautiful in person than even the photos show), and ONE Alfa Romeo 147 GTA and ONE Alfa Romeo GTV (mid 90s version).

5. I spoke with a guy who was working at a Lancia repair centre, and asked him what he thought of the ‘new’ Lancias (like the Ypsilon) and he said “Lancia has not been Lancia for many years”—to which i completely agreed with him. When i asked him why Italians don’t drive ‘older’ Alfas and Lancias he told me “because it is not easy to drive an older Alfa or Lancia everyday in our cities, and many of the cars have broken and are gone”. I think this summed up the situation pretty well. Sad for classic cars in Italy then…..

6. I started wanting to buy a small hatchback. Even the absolutely terrible Lancia Ypsilon started to look alright to me after a week there—-but then i stopped drinking and remembered how rubbish it is. The ‘newer’ Alfa Romeo Mito and Alfa Romeo Giuliettas are very cool little cars…..the Giuletta is very beautiful in person, and would love to see it make it over to the US market. It has a lot more presence on the road than most hatchbacks its size. The Mito is the perfect Alfa answer to the small hatchback italian solution—-however I was shocked to see that the pricing on the Mito starts at 16k Euros and goes all the way into the low 20k range. The Audi A1 is a simply stunning example of a hatchback, beautifully proportioned, very stylish, and very well put together.

7. My wife commented that Audis parked there looked more Italian than Italian cars there…and I have to say that probably rings true for the modern cars being sold in Italy. Plenty of Audis there, as the Italians have picked up on the styling as well, and have bought into it. I would say that 1 out of every 3 ‘nice’ cars seems to be an Audi. This pleased my Audiphile tendencies, of course!

8. Word is, that the Alfa Romeo Museum has been shut for good——at least that’s what somebody told me there. I was not planning on visiting it on this trip anyways, however it seems that it was closed a couple of months ago for renovation, and there are no plans to re-open it—-which would be an absolute shame of course.

9. Fiats are definitely the most popular cars in Italy—–i’d say 6 to 1 over everything else.

10. Traffic is slow, pedestrians are plenty, traffic rules are not obeyed all the time, however I found it actually less chaotic than NYC driving—-at least from a passenger seat. The problem here in NYC is the amount of speed people carry on the roads; whereas in Italy, I didn’t seen people bustling in speed—at least not in the 4 cities I went to.

A couple random photos:

I did happen to stumble upon a ‘motoring’ channel on the Italian cable TV during our last night stay in Rome, where they showed 24 hour coverage of weird obscure motoring events around Italy—pretty cool I have to say! GTV InterMotori

Well this is a hell of a rumour, that has been getting louder and louder over the past few months. Fiat has been whining about Alfa Romeo not making any money for the company for a LONG time now….and according to several articles I have been reading as of late, it seems that Walter De Silva (ex-Alfa Romeo design chief, now VW/Audi design chief) has been urging Martin Winterkorn to really go after buying Alfa Romeo should Fiat decide to sell the brand. Walter De Silva is so excited about this all, that according to one article i found, it states: “Given what is assumingly the passion for Alfa design, de Silva has in thoughts already about 8 models for Alfa, along with designs as well as drawings.” Easy boy!

To be honest, as someone who is REALLY into Audis and their philosophy, I have been seeing Audi as the new Alfa Romeo for the past few years…..they’re making the cars that Alfa should be making….and the Volkswagen group buying Alfa Romeo could REALLY rejuvenate the brand.

Is there any truth to this? we’ll have to see! It could just be substance-less, gossip…..or it could be the real thing. Knowing the way Volkswagen works, i wouldn’t doubt they are after the brand.

Well i gotta give it to Audi, not just because they are my favourite car company, but because they are the only company I can think of who are currently designing cars which will look classic in 10, 20, or 30 years from now (pardon me Alfa Romeo, but you’re kinda losing it). They are the only company I can think of who have attention to detail. The evidence for this is in the brand new Audi A7 introduced this past week in Germany. The rear end of the new A7 has been getting under my skin since the introduction….and now i know why.

The back end flows inwards, going back towards the body. Sure there is a bumper, however this inward flow hasn’t been used in many modern cars….until now. They have brought back the inward flow of the rear end! I know Alfa Romeo have used this ‘inward flow’ (as i refer to it) in their 8c Competizione, however it was a bit overdone with the weird round tail light, but i’m not complaining! The 8c was a stunningly designed car. I think Corvettes and special edition cars like the Ford GT also used this, but when have you recently seen it on a production sedan? i can’t remember any car in the last 10 or 20 years with this….production sedan, shall is say.

Alfa Romeo has a long history of sports cars with this inward flow, I generally recollect one of my favourite Alfa Romeos, the superb Montreal:

Audi claims their inspiration for the new style rear-end comes from them analyzing the 1970s Audi 100 Coupes and i can definitely see what they were looking at…..in fact, i think this new car has more similarity to that design than any other current Audi.

Apparently, this was a very conscious effort to consider ‘older’ designs when designing the A7. Check out this drawing that Audi issued to the press about the influences of the A7 design.

It seems though, that Lamborghini has been flirting with this idea for a while! Well at least in concept form. Check out the Lamborghini Estoque Concept and the Lamborghini Miura Concept from the past several years. Same indented inward flow rear end. Lamborghini, however, is a company essentially operated by Audi, so this isn’t surprising at all….

So what do you guys think about this? will this set a trend and bring this design sense back into the currently lackluster japanese & korean-influenced automotive design world? Can Audi influence other car makers to bring something new & old back into design? Alfa Romeo from a few years ago (2000-2007) really influenced alot of automotive design, however it didn’t last…..but I feel that Audi has already caused all these companies to use “big grilles”….can they get the rest of the industry to throw a bit of retro in the game? I hope so.

I gotta agree with you MajorGav, Lancia has lost the plot and really needs to get back to their identity. The stuff they have been releasing for several years is GHASTLY……and in my opinion; Lancia might be THE biggest waste of a marque i’ve witnessed….amazing how Fiat just turned that company into slop.

But i gotta remind my friends over at Petrolblog, that Lancia is now going to be shacked up very closely to Chrysler; and it seems that for the time being, the identity of Lancia will continue to be lost. A friend of mine who works in the auto industry had told me a couple years ago that there was a good chance that Lancia was going to be shut down; but now it seems they’ve found a new use for the marque Lancia. It’s going to serve as a channel to pass Chrysler products into Europe. What a shame.

It’s been said that the next generation Chrysler 300C is going to become Lancia’s flagship car in Europe….but the worst part is: there are supposedly only minimal changes done to the badges and the grille before it will be sold as a Lancia…….if that’s true, Lancia will be all but dead in my opinion…if it isn’t already. I wish VW would buy Lancia and bring it back properly……imagine a Delta Integrale based on a modified R32/R20 platform? That’d be pretty sweet.